BELGIUM: RUS Tournaisienne (1903-2002) / RFC Tournai (2002-2003) / RFC Tournai (B) (2003-2004)

Stade Magdeleine Lefebvre, Tournay = Tournai = Doornik (formerly RUS Tournaisienne / RFC Tournai / B ground of RFC Tournai)

Belgium, province: Hainaut = Henegouwen

Visited location, August 2009 / no match visited

Timeline

• 1903 / Foundation of Union Sportive (US) Tournaisienne, traditionally the club of Tournay's liberal, anticlerical bourgeoisie. From the very outset, the club plays its football at Plaine des Hôpitaux - renamed Stade Gaston Horlait in the 1920s, and then, much later, Stade Magdeleine Lefebvre. 
• 1909 / For the first time, US Tournaisienne manages to climb up from Hainaut's regional divisions to Promotion, the second - and lowest - tier of Belgium's nascent national league pyramid.
• 1913 / After four years in Promotion, US Tournaisienne drops back into Hainaut's regional divisions.
• 1923 / Winning the title in Hainaut's Provincial League 2 for the third time since World War I - confusingly, P2 being the highest level of Hainaut's regional league system at the time -, the club finally manages a return to Promotion, which meanwhile has been turned into the third and lowest step of Belgium's national league system. In the following thirteen seasons, US Tournaisienne has three spells in Promotion (1923-24, 1925-27, 1928-35), alternated with two isolated seasons in Hainaut's regional divisions.
• 1926 / As the matricule register is introduced by Belgium's Football Association, US Tournaisienne acquires matricule 26.
• 1928 / Obtaining the royal epithet upon its 25th anniversary, the club now officially changes its name to become Royale Union Sportive (RUS) Tournaisienne.
• 1936 / Winning the title in Hainaut's Provincial League 1, RUS Tournaisienne begins a fifth spell in the national divisions. In its first season back in Promotion, the club manages an impressive second place.
• 1948 / Following twelve years - but just nine seasons (due to no league football being played in 1939-41 and 1944-45) - in Promotion, RUS Tournaisienne wins the league title in Promotion A, thus acceding to 'Division 1', which, until 1952, was the name of Belgium's National Division 2. 
• 1951 / Winning the title in D1B, RUS Tournaisienne wins promotion to the Division d'Honneur, the top flight of Belgium's football (renamed National Division 1 in 1952), for the first time in club history. The club's success draws enormous crowds of over 10,000 to Stade Gaston Horlait.
• 1952 / RUS Tournaisienne's adventure in the highest division of the Belgian football pyramid ends in tears, as the club finishes dead-last - and, along with the renowned RRC de Bruxelles, suffering relegation to National Division 2.
• 1954 / Having narrowly saved its skin the previous year, RUS Tournaisienne drops out of National Division 2.
• 1957 / After three seasons in National Division 3, RUS Tournaisienne faces the humiliation of dropping back to National Division 4 - a mere five years after losing its top flight status.
• 1958 / Winning the title in National Division 4B, RUS Tournaisienne finds its way back to D3. In the following 15 years, the club alternates spells in D3 and D4.
• 1973 / Suffering relegation from National Division 4, RUS Tournaisienne loses its place in the national divisions after an uninterrupted spell of 37 years.
• 1974 / RUS Tournaisienne finds its way back to D4 after a second place in Hainaut's Provincial League 1.
• 1980 / After six seasons in National Division 4, RUS Tournaisienne clinches the title in D4B, thus climbing up to the third step of Belgium's league pyramid, a level at which the club had last played in 1961-62.
• 1985 / Following back-to-back relegations, RUS Tournaisienne suddenly finds itself in Hainaut's Provincial League 1.
• 1990 / After having come close on each occasion in the previous three years, RUS Tournaisienne obtains the title in Hainaut's Provincial League 1, thus acceding to National Division 4 following a five-year absence. In the 1990s, the club is a fixed value in the fourth tier of Belgium's national divisions. At that level, the club plays many a derby against neighbour club RRC Tournaisien - those encounters steadfastly drawing larger crowds than any other match at D4 level in the whole of Belgium.
• 1997 / RUS Tournaisienne absorbs SC Pecq (matricule 8786) without changing its name. Pecq's Stade Christory is abandoned.
• 2001 / At the instigation of Tournay's municipal authorities, merger talks are launched between RUS Tournaisienne and RRC Tournaisien (matricule 36), both playing in National Division 4 at that time. Tournay's mayor, Christian Massy, promises to build a new stadium if the two clubs can come to an agreement. Initially, the chosen location for the building project is Plaine des Manoeuvres, a location not far from Tournay's city-centre (a site later occupied by Tournai Hockey Club).
• 2002 / In its last season as an independent club, RUS Tournaisienne wins the title in National Division 4A, thus managing a return to D3 after an absence at that level of 18 years. After the 2001-02 season, the talks with RRC Tournaisien are sealed with a merger deal, concluded at Tournay's town hall in May 2002. Although an agreement between the two clubs had officiously been found months before, official confirmation was not given until after the passing of Luc Varenne (1914-2002), renowned Belgian sports journalist and lifelong supporter of RRC Tournaisien who was an entrenched enemy of a merger with 'Union' - those involved considered it the best way of showing respect to the terminally ill radio reporter in the last weeks of his life. Thanks to the title obtained by RUS Tournaisienne, the new club, christened Royal Football Club (RFC) Tournai, starts its life at National Division 3 level, playing its first team matches at Union's Stade Magdeleine Lefebvre for the time being, while a new stadium is built on top of Complexe Balamo, Racing's youth academy in Kain-la-Tombe.
• 2003 / Having played its first season at Stade Magdeleine Lefebvre, RFC Tournai moves into its newly built ground at Kain-la-Tombe. The new stadium, of which the main pitch is situated on the exact same spot as Complexe Balamo's terrain 1, is christened Stade Luc Varenne in honour of the sports journalist. It is made up of a huge main stand, with a covered terrace opposite and two smaller terraces behind the goals, with a total capacity of 7,552. Aptly, the inaugural ceremony of the stadium and its three side-pitches is performed by Luc Varenne's widow. In subsequent years, Union's Stade Magdeleine Lefebvre and Racing's Stade de la Drève de Maire are both demolished - in the former case to make way for an extension of the local hospital.

All photos: (c) W.B. Tukker / www.extremefootballtourism.blogspot.com. Publication of any of these images only after permission of author